Give Back His Wealth

Job 20:3-10,18 – I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply. “Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since mankind was placed on the earth, that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night. The eye that saw him will not see him again; his place will look on him no more. His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth…What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.

Amos 2:7-8 – They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines.

Application:

• ·         “What he toiled for…he will not enjoy” was a common theme in wisdom literature.
• ·         To care for the “poor…oppressed” and to protect them from injustice were clearly commanded by Israel’s law; also, throughout the ancient Near East, kings were supposed to defend such people.
• ·         Israelites who broke the laws protecting the powerless brazenly used their wrongly gotten gains even in places supposed to be holy.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV